The Cultural Penitentiary

THE CULTURAL PENITENTIARY

I believe everything Mitt Romney did with his taxes was legal and in accordance with present tax laws. That includes paying a tax rate that is more than 50% less than I pay. He followed the tax laws to the letter. Oh, wait. Who wrote those tax laws? Predominately wealthy white men. Hmm. I believe we can call that a conflict of interest. In fact most politics is based upon a conflict of interest, which succinctly defined is looking out for what benefits you most.

Sadly, western Christianity has become a study in a conflict of interest.

Phil.2: 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4. not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (NIV)

And herein lies that underlying battle for the soul of Christianity. Is Christianity compatible with the capitalist western culture? Can believing followers fully enjoy and participate in all the systems of a hedonistic culture and still claim to be living for Christ? And should we as followers of Jesus energetically contend for our own financial benefit in the public and private arena?

Those questions reveal a very sad state as it pertains to the organized church in the west. As the post Industrial Revolution culture began to accelerate into hedonism, the visible church should have become much more pronounced and remarkable. Even if believers had just stayed where they were in their walk, the culture would have left them behind. But slowly but surely the church began to evolve with the changing times. And now we have little more than a few moral disagreements with the culture with Jesus relegated to a doctrinal difference.

Phil.2: 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4. not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (NIV)

And even if you assume, wrongly I contend, that voting is a Christian duty, this year will witness a startling event. Professing believers by the millions will cast their vote for a man who denies that Jesus was God, which in Biblical parlance is the spirit of antichrist. The other candidate promotes infanticide. But why will believers vote for Mitt Romney? Because they believe his policies will increase their prosperity. And plain and simple that is a complete surrender to the culture. But that does not just step over the line, it just reveals what has already happened.

Within the ruins of a fallen race lives what portends to be the living revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ. But where is the unmistakable light? Where is the remarkableness which designates a divine difference? But instead of using a fallen culture as an opportunity to manifest the light of the gospel, the western church has donned the apparel of its fallen neighbors and seeks to leverage personal gain, just like their fallen neighbors. And in some corners of evangelicalism prosperity has even become a Biblical doctrine. But even for those who would reject that, prosperity and the search for personal aggrandizement has become the driving life force within the church. Any financial gain is called a "blessing".

Phil.2: 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4. not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (NIV)

This entire culture is based upon a lifelong search for the advancement of self. I cannot fully put into words the depth of the apostasy. When you look into the bathroom mirror all you can see is what your eyes can see. Even when you turn your head your eyes must remain fixed on the mirror, so in effect your perspective is very limited. You really cannot get the entire picture from your own vantage point. And so it is with seeing the condition of the church. Most believers are not even asking any questions, much less seeing anything.

But it cannot be denied that the self seeking culture today is antithetical to the very core of the Christian faith. So how is it that the church can be so active within this culture and enjoying most of its earthly benefits? And while millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world suffer and joyfully do without, the western church enjoys the playground of a fallen, hedonistic environment?

Selfishness and vain conceit seem to be the bedrock of western culture. Please, can't you see that the church has been swallowed up into that same culture? And every year in the midst of unbridled hedonism and the energetic practice of all sorts of iniquity, the culture pauses to have a "Day of Prayer". Can there be any deeper affront to our God? This religion thing is nothing more than an attempt to assuage our consciences. And in this ghastly "Day of Prayer" they invite all religions to come and be a part of the hollow pageantry. And evangelical churches by the thousands participate and hold meetings which portend to be a gathering of prayer when in fact they are just displays of blindness.

Phil.2: 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4. not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (NIV)

Every day, every month, and every year nothing changes. And believers do not even consider it. It is a ponderous situation. We can read the New Testament and not be horrified at what we have become? That in and of itself is a masterful exercise in deception. And even in the face of open rebellion to its Words, the church struts its inerrancy credentials. The only true inerrancy credentials are those revealed by a life lived in accordance with the Words of the Scriptures. The words of our statements of faith are lifeless attempts to verify our discipleship through written doctrines at the expense of surrendered obedience.

Although many believers are not in the engine of this cultural train of humanism and hedonism, they are certainly riding in a car pulled along by that engine. And instead of a complete reevaluation of everything we believe and everything the Scriptures teach, along with how we must express those truths, we instead allow our interpretations to dilute the very essence of those truths. In effect we interpret the Scripture through the prism of our culture, and when something seems way too radical we adjust it to make it more palatable.

Phil.2: 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4. not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (NIV)

In a dingy hallway a man walks with a slight smile. The air smells of sweat and steel. He nods to those he passes and most do not nod back. But some who know him smile through bars of steel and darkened rooms. The man stops at a door, and a uniformed officer opens it and allows him to pass through. This man has no cares and no worries. He does not think about his next pair of shoes and he does not care who will win the Super Bowl this year. He continues to walk.

He arrives at another door. A guard presses a button and with a loud click the door is unlocked. Another guard opens the door and this man walks through. He is now in the mentally deranged block of a federal penitentiary. Here there are men who can be dangerous and who have lost their capacity to think and behave like normal human beings. Some of them cannot even make a phone call or change their clothes, but this man is here to help them. He helps them in any way they need.

This man receives no pay and certainly no congratulations. And even though it can be dangerous, and even though it is a thankless task, this man receives an inward fulfillment unknown to most of us. This man carries a Bible and reads it to these pitiful men. Some do not even acknowledge hearing him, but he is not dissuaded. Some listen and smile while others just listen expressionless. After a couple of hours his time is up and them man must leave. He again walks down those dingy halls, but he does not go to his car in a parking lot. No, this man heads back to his own universe which is a 14 x 16 cell. He has lived there for 35 years. He has been mocked and shunned and even attacked. He almost lost his life.

He does not complain or murmur. Most of the guards like him and also respect him. He hungers after God’s Word and he spends much time on his knees in prayer to God. He has a air of humility, so much so that at the beginning some thought it was an act. Almost no one thinks that anymore. This man has shunned any parole hearings, and he has written letters of remorse to the families of his victims. This man was a serial murderer.

But now this man shares, some would say preaches, God’s Word to everyone around him. His heart and life have been miraculously transformed. He is a new creature in Christ Jesus and his gratefulness to Christ shines through him every day. He has seen many prisoners receive Christ and find eternal life. He teaches a Bible study for new believers. He is faithful to do any chores assigned to him. He is a peacemaker in the midst of extreme violence. He radiates the Person of Christ among those who desperately need to see Him.

He is not caught up with the current trends in fashion. He is not consumed with television. Humility and meekness are living in his heart. He is not concerned with his own situation, but he is concerned with other and their situations. Violence and aggression have no place in his daily walk. He is a completely different person than the one who murdered people. He now walks with Jesus.

His name is David Berkowitz, and he was known as the Son of Sam. And he will spend the rest of his life in a penitentiary. But he seeks the face of God daily. Stripped involuntarily of the trappings of culture, he is free to soar with Christ by the power of the Spirit. In many ways we live in a prison and he lives in freedom. Change our hearts, Dear Lord.